Greater Manchester TV Festival Unveils Dates, Venue & Waye Garvie Chair

The UK’s biggest TV Festival has revealed the dates it will officially launch in Greater Manchester for the first time, with Sony international productions boss Wayne Garvie aboard as advisory chair.

The TV Festival will move one week back from its traditional Edinburgh slot to the week after the August Bank Holiday from Tuesday August 31 to Friday September 3.

The venues will be Versa Studios Manchester and Aviva Studios, the former of which stands on the historic site of the former Granada Studios. The Festival’s editorial programme will take place across studios in the Versa complex and the Law Family Hall in Factory International.

The TV Festival is relocating after more than 50 years in Edinburgh. A new event in Edinburgh will launch next year in partnership with Screen Scotland and others, and could be part of the reason Manchester has shifted its dates back a week. The move to Manchester has been made for affordability and accessibility reasons, organizers have said.

Garvie, who oversees storied Sony indies including Left Bank, Bad Wolf and Eleven, is a big get as chair. He takes over from Adam Hawkins, the Netflix UK docs commissioner, who did the temp role for the 2026 edition, the final one in Scotland.

TV Festival CEO Campbell Glennie said: “Work is now firmly underway for the 2027 edition of The TV Festival, with a renewed vigour, vision and creative ambition across the team. We are excited by the prospect of evolving the Festival beyond what people have come to expect. With Greater Manchester as our new home, we’re ready to grow and realise the Festival’s full potential over the coming years.”

Garvie added: “I feel privileged to be bringing the Television Festival to a city I love, a city renowned for innovation, culture, and having a damn good time. We’ll make this an unforgettable event, with emerging voices and global names, argument and laughter, so come and join us to plot the future of our industry.”